[mythtv-users] OTA/DTV tuner-card related questions, recommendations

[Douglas Peale]

On 01/20/2011 10:00 AM, James Miller wrote:
> Simon Hobson wrote:
>
>> Yes, SD DVB or ATSC is typically in the order of 2mbps, HD more but still nothing you won't handle with a 100mbps network.
>
> Glad to hear it, Simon. Thanks for interjecting that.
>
>> Stepping back a bit in the thread, I'd suggest you have another look
>> at what you are receiving OTA. Over here in the UK, most of our
>> terrestrial is SD - HD is fairly new and transmitted with a different
>> coding (DVB-T2) which needs new hardware. Whilst I'm not aware of you
>> having any standards problem like that to deal with (ie like us
>> needing DVB-T2 hardware), there is a big commercial incentive to keep
>> to SD as you can fit a lot more SD channels in a given multiplex than
>> you can HD channels.
>
> Wow, great suggestion. How do I find out the characteristics of what I'm receiving OTA? Should my converter box display that
> sort of information? Or do I have to go to the web sites of the channels (there are really only 2 that I'm most interested in)
> I'm picking up and search for information there? Not sure what "multiplexing" means in this context, but the following may be
> relevant: the two stations in which I'm most interested each have 4 or 5 of what I'd call, in my layman's nomenclature,
> "sub-channels." Does that help to determine whether they're broadcasting SD or HD?
>
>> If a substantial quantity of what you can get (and want to watch) is
>> only SD - then all the discussion about whether your system can
>> handle HD is moot.
>
> Good point, Simon. I'll see what I can find out about that. Just to clarify, it sounds like you're saying that we should
> expect SD to be around for a good long time now in OTA broadcasting, correct?
>
> James

The cheap box you got with the government coupon probably won't tell you any useful information about how the signal was
broadcast, and it converts everything to 480i.
The cheap box will tell what channels you can receive.
Write down a list of channels you are interested in that it receives, then go to http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/
and type in your zip code.
Find the channels you wrote down in the list to see what kind of signal they are broadcasting.

Another good website for OTA reception is TVFool.com. There you can get a list of all the channels it might be possible to get,
and the direction to aim the antenna to get them.

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